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PAMPHLETS 
ON 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 


Volume  3 


6  3  0.30*. 


I   *    v 


Federal  council  of  the  churches  of  Christ  in 
America.  What  every  church  should  know  about 
its  community. 

General  Association  of  Congregational  Churches 
of  Massachusetts,  Advance  reports  of  various 
committees,  1908  and  1909 

McElfresh,  F.  The  country  Sunday  school 

MclTutt,  M.  B.  Modern  methods  in  the  country  church 

MclTutt ,  M,  B.  A  post-graduate  school  with  a  purpose 

Massachusetts  Federation  of  Churches-  Quarterly 
"bulletin,  Facts  and  factors.  October  1910 
"The  part  of  the  church  in  rural  progress  as 
discussed  at  the  Amherst  Conference . w 

Root,  E,  T.  State  federations 

Taf t ,  A,  B.  The  mistress  of  the  rural  manse 

Taf t ,  A.  B.  The  tent  mission 

Taylor,  G.  Basis  for  social  evangelism  with  rural 
applications 

Wells,  G.  F,  An  answer  to  the  New  England  country 
church  question. 

Wells,  G.  F.  What  our  country  churches  need 

Wilson,  W»  H,  The  church  and  the  transient 

Wilson,  W.  H.  Conservation  of  boys 

Wilson,  W.  H.  The  country  church 

Wilson,  W,  H.  The  country  church  program 

Wilson,  W,  H«  Don't  breathe  on  the  thermometer 

Wilson,  W«  H,  The  farmers'  church  and  the  farmers* 
.5  college 

CD 

t— ^ 

co    Wilson,  W.  II.  Getting  the  worker  to  church 

Q_ 

UJ 
V) 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  Member  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/churchcountrylif03pres 


Wilson,  W.  H.  The  girl  on  the  farm 

Wilson j  W.  H.  How  to  manage  a  country  life 

institute 

:lson,  W.  II*  "Marrying  the  land." 

Wilson,  W.  H»  tTo  need  to  he  poor  in  the  country 

Wilson,  W.  H.  Synod's  opportunity 

Wilson,  W<  H.  What  limits  the  rural  Evangel 


»«*»9*a«» 


The  church  and  country  life.  Pamphlet  issued 
hy  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presby< 
terian  Church. 


CHURCH  and  COUNTRY  LIFE 


THE  RURAL  CHURCH 

1Fn  some  great  bap. 

1f  speeb  everpman 

Jibe  Country  Cburcb 

1fn  bis  bope  anb  plan 

mm  finb  its  voice 

Bnb  follow  bis  bag  witb  tbe  sun : 

Bnb  it  will  sap.: 

Bnb  grasses  anb  trees, 

"11  stanb  in  tbefielbs 

Gbe  birbs  anb  tbe  bees 

TWlbere  tbe  wibe  eartb  ptelbs 

1F  Rnow  anb  feel  ev'rp  one. 

IHec  bounties  ot  fruit  anb  grain: 

TlXUbere  tbe  furrows  turn 

"Bnb  out  of  it  all 

Gill  tbe  plowsbares  burn 

Bs  tbe  seasons  fall 

Bs  tbep  come  rounb  anb  rounb 
again: 

Wbere  tbe  workers  prap 

1T  butlb  mp  great  temple  alwap ; 

1f  point  to  tbe  sRies, 

IMttb  tbeir  tools  all  bap 

:JBut  mp  footstone  lies 

1Fn  sunsbine  anb  sbabow  anb  rain. 

1fn  commonplace  worR  of  tbe  bag; 

jfor  H  preacb  tbe  wortb 

"Bnb  1T  bib  tbem  tell 

©f  tbe  native  eartb— 

©f  tbe  crops tbep  sell 

XLo  love  anb  to  worR  is  to  prap." 

Bnb  speaR  of  tbe  worR  tbep  bave. 

bone: 

Liberty  H.  Bailey 

The  report  of  the  Executive  Commission  at  the  last  General  Assembly  and 
the  discussion  following  it,  brought  the  Department  of  Church  and  Country  Life 
noticeably  before  the  Church  at  large.  Many  are  seeking  knowledge  of  this  work. 
To  these  we  commend  the  following  articles.  Each  is  contributed  by  one  who  is 
working,  or  who  has  worked  during  the  past  year,  under  the  Department.  Taken 
together  they  give  an  accurate  sketch  of  several  lines  of  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions,  country  life  work. 


CHURCH   AND   COUNTRY   LIFE 


Religious  Leadership  of  the  Farmer 


WARREN    H.    WILSON 


IN  the  past  the  farmer  built  the  churches, 
inspired  the  ministers  and  initiated  the 
revivals.  The  forms  of  all  American 
religious  movements,  till  the  days  of  Christian 
Science,  and  Dowieism,  have  been  rural. 

Until  now  a  great  majority  of  the  ministry, 
and  of  the  leading  laymen,  are  country  born 
and  bred.  This  was  natural  in  those  times. 
There  is  no  promise  in  it  that  the  future  reli- 
gious leadership  will  be  rural.  The  country 
church  was  first,  because  the  farm  preceded 
the  store,  the  mill  or  the  factory.  The  oldest 
churches  in  the  cities  were  usually  founded  by 
farmers,  before  the  growth  of  cities.  These 
old  rural  foundations  were  the  mothers  of 
churches.  The  membership  of  mother  church 
and  branches  was  recruited,  as  the  city  grew, 
from  rural  congregations. 

The  forms  of  rural  life,  moreover,  prevail 
in  city  congregations.  Little  has  the  city  done 
to  modify  the  country  type.  Elders  and  dea- 
cons still  rule  the  churches  on  the  avenue ;  as 
they  led  the  village  congregation.  The  minis- 
ter still  labors,  as  a  rule,  without  assistants, 
because  in  the  country  he  needs  none.  What 
was  serviceable  in  the  country  still  has  to  do 
in  the  city  church:  because  the  membership 
continue  to  think  of  religion  in  terms  of  the 
country,  where  they  got  their  profoundest 
religious  impressions 

The  city  has  not  been  a  fertile  field  of  reli- 
gious experience,  as  the  country  has.  It  has 
embodied  few  new  ideals,  as  yet,  in  adequate 
church  forms,  but  is  still  following  the  lead  of 
men  who  thought  and  wrote  in  peaceful  scenes, 
where  family  life  was  complete  in  itself  and 
the  individual,  not  society,  wrote  the  philoso- 
phy of  life. 

This  leadership  has  passed  from  the  country. 
In  its  place  the  country  church,  except  in  some 
of  the  old,  eastern  states,  is  frequently  strug- 
gling for  mere  survival.  Its  highest  ideal  is 
now  often  narrow  because  of  the  economic 
poverty  of  the  country,  and  because  of  the 
exodus  which  has  exhausted  rural  society. 
Often  the  people-  are  discouraged,  because 
theirs  is  the  toil,  and  to  others  belong  the  gains, 
of  producing  wealth.  They  are  few  in  number. 
Each  census  records  the  astounding  rate  of 
national  increase;  but  of  late  each  decade  dis- 
closes a  rural  decline.    Occupations,  even  more 


than  men,  have  left  the  country.  Nearly  all 
the  trades  are  moved  irom  rural  shops  to  city 
factories.  Only  the  working  farmer  has  been 
left,  generally,  in  the  country.  Religion  does 
not  thrive  among  a  diminished  people,  to 
whom  others  dictate  prices,  whose  sole  pre- 
vailing occupation  has  undergone  depression 
for  three  successive  decades.  The  story  of  the 
struggle  of  the  rural  church  for  survival,  in 
the  great  agricultural  states,  is  told  elsewhere 
in  this  issue. 

Now  has  come  a  time  of  rural  revival.  For 
twenty  years  farmers  have  been  struggling  for 
a  better  country  life.  The  other  occupations, 
once  rural,  have  given  no  assistance.  Mer- ' 
chants,  bankers,  manufacturers,  lawyers, 
doctors,  even  ministers,  have  been  engrossed 
with  the  building  of  cities.  In  "boom"  times 
the  farmer  has  had  to  fight  even  for  his  home- 
stead. The  church  and  school  alone  have 
stayed  with  him  and  suffered  with  him. 
Twenty  years,  whose  history  will  some  day 
be  written  in  heroic  letters ! 

For  five  years  this  struggle  has  commanded 
national  attention.  It's  beginning  to  win. 
These  five  years  have  been  marked  by  the 
leadership  of  educators  and  ministers.  The 
country  movement  is  a  teaching  and  a  prayer. 
It  has  found  its  pedagogues  and  its  priests. 
Rural  hymns  are  written  and  inspired  men, 
dedicating  their  lives  to  the  country,  have  be- 
come prophets  of  a  new  order. 

There  is  a  general  agreement  among  those 
who  lead  in  this  work  for  country  life  that  it 
will  win  only  when  it  becomes  a  religious 
movement.  These  leaders  are  godly  men  and 
women, — almost  all  taught  in  the  churches, 
with  homely,  simple  faith.  They  believe  that 
God  is  the  Provider.  Some  of  them  have 
been  poor,  and  they  know  what  it  is  to  pray 
for  daily  bread,  for  a  job,  for  an  income  to 
feed  and  cloihe  a  family.  They  naturally 
think  of  the  farmer  as  God's  hired  man,  a 
provider  like  God  Himself.  They  long  for  a 
religious  motive  power,  given  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  arouse  the  farmer  as  a  national 
leader,  and  inspire  him  as  a  servant  of  the 
commonwealth.  Ministers  of  all  denomina- 
tions, in  the  country,  have  been  quick  to  catch 
this  inspiration  and  powerful  in  communicat- 
ing it. 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY   LIFE 


The  signs  of  this  revival  of  rural  leadership 
in  things  of  the  spirit  are  many.  One  of  them 
is  the  unusual  interest  in  rural  institutions  as 
centers  of  inspiration.  The  church  and  the 
school  have  become  the  centers  of  a  new  rural 
evangel.  A  larger  idea  of  God  is  preached 
from  many  pulpits.  Pages  of  the  Bible,  long 
omitted  from  reading,  are  filled  with  meaning. 
Conferences  and  Institutes'  on  rural  matters 
use  Scriptural  language,  and  return  to  Scrip- 
tural ideals  with  profound  satisfaction.  If 
the  American  and  the  Protestant,  instead  of 
the  immigrant  from  southeastern  Europe, 
shall  win  in  the  struggle  for  satisfactory  life 
on  American  soil,  it  will  be  through  this  reli- 
gious awakening.  Only  as  a  religious  experi- 
ence can  the  American  change  his  heart  from 


the  love  of  money  to  the  love  of  the  land 
God  has  given  him.  Jews,  and  Poles  and 
Italians — as  Swedes  and  Germans  before  them 
— have  shown  that  they  love  land  better  than 
money.  Those  who  shall  own  the  land  shall 
build  the  churches.  Those  who  build  the 
churches  in  the  country  will  determine  the 
religion  of  the  whole  people 

I  believe  that  our  churches,  of  the  Protes- 
tant type,  will  win  in  this  great  revival,  that 
they  will  retain  sufficient  numbers  of  their 
people  in  the  country  to  evangelize  those  who 
shall  come  and  that,  strengthened  by  this 
struggle,  and  brought  near  to  the  Almighty 
Spirit  by  victory  over  poverty,  discouragement 
and  depletion,  they  will  learn  new  lessons  in 
the  divine  obedience 


Complexion  of  the  Country  Church  Field 


LOIS    NEFF 


THE  first  purpose  of  the  Department  of 
Church  and  Country  Life  is  to  serve 
the  churches  which  minister  to  the 
farmer.  In  order  to  fill  this  purpose  we  must 
know  how  many  of  our  churches  perform 
such  a  service. 

One  could  safely  make  the  assertion  that 
the  number  of  Presbyterian  country  churches 
is  legion  because  there  is  such  a  host  of  coun- 
try churches.  It  would  be  quite  possible  for 
one  to  convince  himself  of  this  fact  by  first 
finding  out  the  number  of  country  churches 
in  a  few  representative  presbyteries.  But  if 
the  question,  How  many  Presbyterian  country 
churches  are  there?  is  asked,  a  mere  estimate 
is  not  sufficient. 

In  the  first  place  a  definition  of  "country" 
is  necessary.  The  census  report  regards  all 
towns  of  2,500,  or  less,  as  "rural."  For  our 
classification  of  churches  we  have  used  the 
definition  as  given  in  the  census  report.  At 
first  thought  this  classification  will  appear  un- 
fair. To  be  sure,  there  is  a  large  number  of 
towns  of  not  more  than  2,500  people  that  have 
urban  characteristics.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  towns  with  a  population  of  more  than 
2,500  have  churches  whose  membership  is  re- 
cruited largely  from  rural  districts.  Thus  a 
certain  balance  is  secured. 

In    separating    country    churches    from    the 


entire  number  of  Presbyterian  churches,  the 
Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly  for  1912  and 
the  1910  Report  of  the  Census  were  our  guide. 
After  finding  out  which  churches  were  in 
towns  of  2,500,  or  less,  there  were  remaining 
many  churches  whose  addresses  were  un- 
noticed in  the  census  report.  We  dared  not 
assume  that  all  these  churches  were  in  the 
open  country,  for  might  they  not  be  in  vil- 
lages that  were  not  incorporated,  or  in  sub- 
urban towns,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were 
included  in  the  population  of  a  nearby  city? 
To  make  sure  of  the  location  of  the  churches 
of  which  we  were  in  doubt,  inquiry  was  made 
of  some  one  whose  knowledge  included  not 
only  the  location  of  certain  churches,  but  also 
the  conditions  found  in  the  places  where  these 
churches  were  located.  Through  cooperation 
with  men  on  the  field,  we  were  able  to  learn 
which  churches  were  found  in  suburban  towns, 
as  well  as  the  ones  which  were  located  in 
mining,  lumbering  and  summering  places.  To 
synodical  superintendents,  pastor  evangelists, 
home  missionary  chairmen,  stated  clerks  and 
pastors  who  responded  so  generously  to  our 
request  for  information,  we  are  deeply  in- 
debted  for  the  data  furnished  us  by  them. 

Inquiry  was  made  of  some  one  in  each  pres- 
bytery. Reports  were  received  from  269  pres- 
byteries.    These  reports  showed  that  70.7  per 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


i 


i 


CHURCH   AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


cent,  of  all  the  churches  in  those  269  pres- 
byteries were  country  churches.  Of  the  6,751 
country  churches,  4,185,  or  61.9  per  cent,  are 
in  villages,  and  2,261,  or  33.6  per  cent,  are  in 
the  open  country.  The  remaining  305,  which 
constitute  4.5  per  cent,  have  been  abandoned. 
The  location  of  the  abandoned  churches  was 
given  in  only  a  few  instances  by  those  from 
whom  inquiry  was  made.  The  fact  that  the 
names  of  only  a  few  of  the  places  where  these 
abandoned  churches  were  located  were  given 
in  the  census  report,  gave  us  reason  to  believe 
that  the  large  majority  of  abandoned  Presby- 
terian churches  were  found  in  very  small  vil- 
lages or  in  the  open  country. 

In  addition  to  the  number  of  country 
churches  of  our  denomination,  we  were  inter- 
ested to  know  how  many  of  them  had  the 
services  of  a  minister.  We  learned  that  4,863, 
which  is  72.0  per  cent,  of  the  entire  number 
of  country  churches  in  those  269  presbyteries, 
had  a  minister.  1,583,  or  23.5  per  cent,  of  them 
were  vacant.  The  remaining  4.5  per  cent,  is  ac- 
counted for  by  the  305  abandoned  churches 
to  which  reference  has  been  made. 

Of  the  4,863  country  churches  which  had 
the  services  of  a  minister,  3,280  were  in  vil- 
lages and  1,583  were  in  the  open  country.  That 
is,  78.4  per  cent,  of  the  village  churches  have 
a  minister,  21.6  per  cent,  have  none.  Of  the 
open  country  churches,  70.0  per  cent,  have  a 
minister,  30.0  per  cent,  are  vacant. 

Another  matter  in  which  we  were  interest- 
ed was,  How  many  country  churches  have  a 
resident  pastor?  We  found  that  2,855  of  the 
4,863  churches  that  had  a  minister  had  him 
living  in  the  parish.  74.6  per  cent,  of  the 
village  churches  that  had  a  minister  were  so 
fortunate  as  to  have  him  residing  within  the 
parish,  whereas  only  25.8  per  cent,  of  the 
open  country  churches  had  a  resident  minis- 
ter. In  other  words,  3  out  of  every  4  vil- 
lage churches  with  ministerial  service  had  a 
resident  minister,  but  only  one  out  of  every 
4  open  country  churches  had  a  resident  min- 
ister. 

Not  all  country  churches  that  had  a  min- 
ister had  the  privilege  of  all  of  his  time.  In 
fact  many  churches  so  favored  as  to  have  a 
resident  minister  must  share  him  with  one 
or  more  churches.  Only  33.8  per  cent,  of  all 
the  country  churches  had  the  full  time  of  the 
minister,  23.4  per  cent,  have  one-half  of  his 
time,    10.4  per   cent,   have   one-third   and   4.5 


per  cent,  manage  to  exist  with  one-fourth,  or 
less,  of  the  minister's   attention. 

The  accompanying  map  shows  the  percent- 
age of  Presbyterian  churches  which  are  coun- 
try churches.  In  New  England  there  are  but 
fifty  Presbyterian  churches,  mainly  located  in 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Relatively 
few  of  these  are  rural,  as  appears  from  the 
fact  that  Massachusetts  is  left  blank  on  the 
map,  Presbyterian  organizations  in  that  state 
being  properly  ranked  as  city  churches.  The 
four  or  five  Presbyterian  churches  in  Maine 
are  in  more  important  centers,  and  are  not 
made  the  basis  of  any  showing  for  that  state. 

In  the  southeast  this  map  makes  no  reckon- 
ing of  the  organizations  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  U.  S.  (Southern  Presbyterian),  but 
it  does  include  the  U.  S.  A.  churches  organ- 
ized in  the  Negro  Synods.  The  inclusion  of 
the  negro  churches  justifies  estimating  con- 
ditions in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  where- 
as, the  small  number  of  white  churches  would 
le^ve  them  in  the  same  category  with  the 
blank  New  England  States.  Louisiana  is  or- 
ganized with  the  Synod  of  Texas  in  U.  S.  A. 
churches,  and  the  small  representation  of  our 
branch  prompts  leaving  that  state  blank. 

Further  west  in  the  south  those  familiar 
with  social  and  economic  conditions  will  un- 
derstand how  even  churches  reckoned  as  rural 
in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  may  minister 
mainly  to  a  population  depending  upon  min- 
ing rather  than  agriculture.  Particularly 
notable  is  that  fact  m  the  case  of  Nevada 
where  a  high  percentage  of  rural  churches  is 
indicated,  whereas  few  or  none  minister  large- 
ly to  an  agricultural  population. 


GO,  REAPER 

Go,  reaper, 
Speed  and  reap, 
Go  take  the  harvest 
Of  the  plough: 
The  wheat  is  standing 
Broad  and  deep, 
The  barley  glumes 
Are  golden  now. 

Labour   is   hard, 

But  it  endures 

Like  love : 

The  land  is  yours : 

Go  reap  the  life 

It  gives  you  now, 

O   sunbrowned   master 

Of  the  plough! 

— Seosamh   MacCathmhaoil. 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


The  Survey  for  Evangelism 


RALPH    A.    FELTON 


THE  Presbyterian  Church  is  putting  a 
new  emphasis  on  its  belief  that  Christ 
came  to  call  sinners  to  repentance. 
This  new  evangelism  stands  for  a  living,  fer- 
vent, aggressive  Christianity.  It  means  that 
the  Church  should  forget  its  interest  in  self- 
preservation,  and  should  minister  to  the  most 
needy  among  men. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  is  studying  the 
religious  needs  of  the  rural  districts,  and  is 
seeking  to  meet  these  needs.  This  study  is 
called  a  survey.  The  Department  of  Church 
and  Country  Life  has  undertaken  several  such 
surveys. 

Last  summer  19  counties  of  Ohio  were  sur- 
veyed, and  a  study  was  made  of  1,515  country 
and  village  churches.  Of  these  churches 
slightly  less  than  one-third  were  found  to  be 
growing,  while  the  rest  were  either  standing 
still  or  losing  ground.  There  is  an  average 
of  ten  abandoned  churches  to  each  county, 
making  something  like  800  in  the  entire  state. 

There  are  causes  of  this  decline  outside  of 
the  church.  One  is  the  decrease  of  the  farm 
population.  Another  is  the  increase  in  ten- 
antry, for  the  church  has  not  learned  how  to 
reach  the  tenant  farmer.  In  Butler  county  41 
per  cent,  of  the  farmers  are  tenants  while 
only  22  per  cent,  of  the  farmers  on  the  church 
roll  are  tenants.  In  some  counties  it  was 
found  that  the  church  is  declining  because  the 
farmers  in  the  community  do  not  have  an  ade- 
quate income  to  support  the  church. 

In  order  that  the  church  may  evangelize  the 
community,  it  must  be  an  efficient  working 
organization.  We  need  to  know  how  we  can 
improve  our  methods  of  church  administra- 
tion. One  of  the  reasons  for  the  decline  of 
the  country  church  is  the  lack  of  ministers 
who  serve  only  one  church  each.  Of  the 
churches  situated  in  the  open  country  cov- 
ered by  the  survey,  only  6  per  cent,  have  min- 
isters giving  full  time,  26  per  cent,  have  min- 
isters for  half,  time,  while  the  remaining  68 
per  cent,  have  one-third  to  one-sixth  of  a 
minister.  One  minister  was  found  who  was 
trying  to  serve  seven  churches  scattered  all 
over  a  county.  Of  the  churches  having  a 
minister  for  full  time,  60  per  cent,  are  grow- 
ing, while  of  those  churches  which  have  one- 
fourth  of  a  minister  or  less,  only  26  per  cent. 


are  growing.  The  survey  shows  that  evan- 
gelism suffers  when  part  of  a  man  is  sent  to 
do  a  whole  man's  job. 

The  residence  of  ministers  is  another  fac- 
tor in  evangelism.  Where  there  is  a  resident 
pastor,  51  per  cent,  of  the  churches  are  grow- 
ing. Where  the  minister  is  non-resident,  only 
26  per  cent,  of  the  churches  are  growing. 

This  naturally  means  that  country  churches 
should  pay  more  toward  the  salary  of  min- 
isters. As  a  result  of  the  findings  of  the 
Ohio  Rural  Life  Survey,  an  effort  is  being 
made  in  a  district  of  a  certain  denomination 
to  raise  the  salaries  of  all  country  ministers 
to  a  minimum  of  $1,000.  Every  member  of 
the  church  in  that  district  has  been  asked  to' 
contribute  the  proceeds  of  one  day's  work  to- 
ward this  raise. 

The  size  of  the  membership  of  a  church 
has  also  been  found  to  have  a  bearing  upon 
its  chances  for  growth.  Of  churches  with  a 
membership   of 

25  or  less.     2  per  cent,  are  growing 

26-50    17 

51-100    34 

101-150    48 

151-200  ....59 
200  or  over  79 

In  order  that  more  people  may  be  brought 
into  the  Kingdom  our  smaller  churches  need 
to  combine  or  federate. 

The  problem  of  evangelizing  the  rural  com- 
munity must  be  through  cooperation  on  the 
part  of  the  religious  forces  in  the  commun- 
ity. Hitherto  each  denomination  has  consid- 
ered itself  responsible  for  the  work  of  evan- 
gelism regardless  of  the  other  denominations 
in  the  community,  and  the  result  has  been  a 
waste  of  money,  time  and  energy.  An  illus- 
tration of  this  waste  is  seen  in  a  village  of 
475  people  in  one  of  the  best  farming  sections 
of  Ohio.  In  this  village  there  are  five  church 
buildings,  two  of  which  are  now  abandoned. 
Last  year  three  of  the  churches  (including 
one  since  discontinued)  received  a  total  of 
$675  aid  from  home  missions  and  from 
churches-  outside  of  the  community.  All  the 
churches  together  through  their  divided  ef- 
forts have  managed  to  reach  only  one- fourth 
of  the  people  in  the  community. 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


Besides  affecting  the  Church  as  a  whole, 
this  work  of  survey  has  a  great  influence  in 
making  efficient  the  work  of  the  individual 
minister.  Too  many  country  ministers  think 
only  of  the  membership  of  their  several 
churches  as  their  field,  and  the  new  recruits 
gathered  from  their  annual  revivals.  The 
average  country  minister  serves  three 
churches.  In  these  he  preaches,  on  the  mem- 
bers of  these  he  calls,  their  children  he  bap- 
tizes and  teaches  in  the  Sunday  school.  Few 
of  our  country  ministers  have  been  able  to 
serve  an  entire  community.  Parishes  overlap, 
and  members  of  several  churches  are  scatter- 
ed over  the  same  neighborhood.  Many  people 
have  been  overlooked,  and  have  not  been 
reached  by  the  revival  meetings.  Some  of 
these  are  former  members  who  have  lost  in- 
terest ;  some  hold  membership  in  distant 
churches,  while  some  do  not  feel  free  to  at- 
tend church  for  financial  reasons.  The  sur- 
vey maps  and  diagrams  the  parish  and  charts 
the  ministers'  task. 

By  a  survey  or  canvass  of  his  community 
the  minister  is  given  a  chance  to  see  his  task 
in  a  way  that  he  has  never  seen  it  before ; 
sometimes  he  goes  into  homes  into  which  no 
minister  has  ever  gone.  He  takes  the  gospel 
to  those  who  will  not  come  to  him.  He  finds 
out  their  needs,  in  order  that  the  church  may 
serve  them,  and  in  order  that  they  may  be 
enlisted   for  the  service  of  others. 

The  effect  upon  the  minister  is  often  great- 
er than  upon  the  people.  He  is  often  sur- 
prised to  learn  of  the  great  proportion  of 
people  in  his  community  who  have  not  been 
touched   by   any   church.     The    following   in- 


stances illustrate  what  the  survey  has  been 
able  to  accomplish  toward  the  evangelization 
of  the  local  community. 

Three  ministers  thought  that  nearly  every- 
body in  their  township  belonged  to  church; 
but  after  making  a  house-to-house  canvass, 
found  that  only  ten  per  cent,  of  the  people 
were  members  of  any  church. 

One  minister  as  a  result  of  his  canvass 
found  a  large  unchurched  community.  He 
has  since  organized  a  Sunday  school  in  a 
school  house  which  has  an  enrollment  of  60. 
His  church  in  the  village  has  discontinued  its 
evening  service  in  order  that  he  may  attend 
this  Sunday  school,  and  hold  preaching  ser- 
vices in  a  church  that  had  been  abandoned. 

Another  minister  after  making  a  survey, 
made  a  map  of  his  community  in  which  the 
houses  were  colored  according  to  whether  the 
people  belonged  to  church  or  not.  In  this  way 
the  religious  condition  of  the  community  is 
kept  vividly  before  the  church  members,  and 
they  are  able  to  work  more  intelligently  and 
earnestly  for  the  evangelization  of  the  whole 
community. 

After  the  survey  showed  that  in  a  certain 
district  of  a  hundred  square  miles  only  3.4 
per  cent,  of  the  people  belonged  to  the 
churches  of  the  district,  a  young  minister  was 
sent  into  the  community,  and  a  thriving  church 
has  since  been  organized. 

The  ministerial  association  of  one  county 
of  Ohio  is  making  a  survey  of  their  whole 
county,  visiting  every  house,  in  order  that 
they  may  know  their  problem  better.  Four- 
teen country  ministers  are  working  together 
on  this  task. 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


Conditions  Which  Affect  Country 
Church  Growth 


HERMAN  N.   MORSE 


A  CHURCH  was  made  to  grow,  not  to 
stop" — if  one  may  adapt  a  familiar 
sentence.  The  population  in  the  rural 
districts  of  our  older  states  is  diminishing; 
changed  methods  of  farming  and  an  altered 
standard  of  living  are  responsible  for  that.  In 
an  average  country  community  the  member- 
ship of  the  churches  represents  not  more  than 
one-third  of  the  population;  it  is  often  much 
less. 

Hardly  more  than  one-fourth  of  the 
churches  in  the  open  country  and  two-fifths 
of  the  village  churches  which  minister  to  the 
open  country  are  growing,  either  in  numbers 
or  efficiency.  A  large  proportion  are  steadily 
declining.  Every  year  scores  of  churches  find 
their  way  into  the  ecclesiastical  graveyard 
which  already  numbers  its  head-stones  by  the 
thousands — a  great  multitude  of  abandoned 
country  churches!  800  in  Ohio;  1,700  in  Illi- 
nois ;  750  in  Missouri ;  so  the  list  reads.  While 
the  country  churches  which  are  really  eminent 
in  success  are  few.  This  compels  us  to  con- 
sider what  conditions  affect  church  growth. 
The  difficulty  seems  to  arise  usually  from  one 
condition.  The  country  church  is  facing  a 
new  situation  which  has  arisen  within  two  de- 
cades and  which  has  changed  the  problem  and 
hence  the  task  of  the  church,  both  in  form 
and  in  content.  This  has  rendered  the  old 
methods  of  church  work  wholly  inadequate, 
has  put  a  new  aspect  on  the  problem  of  main- 
tenance and  made  for  the  church  a  new  test 
of  success.  The  factors  responsible  for  this 
we  can  only  mention  in  brief.  Rural  society 
is  passing  through  a  period  of  readjustment 
which  is  affecting  all  the  most  vital  processes 
of  its  life.  Both  the  community  and  economy 
of  the  old  type  of  American  farmer  have  been 
disrupted  and  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  type 
of  organization  which  is  to  replace  them.  The 
church  is  not  an  isolated  institution;  it  is  a 
social  institution  and  fits  into  a  complicated 
social  situation.  It  cannot  remain  unaffected 
by  the  far-reaching  social  and  economic 
changes  which  have  affected  its  community. 
The  type  of  church  which  satisfied  the  needs 
of  the  rural  community  of  fifty  years  ago  is  no 
more  sufficient  for  our  changed  needs  than  is 


the  type  of  farm  implement  then  in  use,  or  the 
type  of  rural  school.  Moreover,  in  a  time 
of  transition  it  is  inevitable  that  old  sanctions 
should  lose  power.  Institutions  which  would 
survive  must  find  new  sanctions  to  control 
society. 

This  transition  in  itself  constitutes  a  chal- 
lenge to  the  church  because  of  the  importance 
to  the  community  of  the  factors  involved.  But 
the  church  as  a  whole  has  shown  itself  pos- 
sessed of  neither  the  inherent  strength  and 
flexibility  of  organizations,  the  program  of 
work,  nor  the  necessary  equipment  properly  to 
re-adjust  itself  and  so  maintain  its  strength 
unimpaired.  Instances  of  the  sort  of  condi- 
tions which  the  church  has  been  unable  prop- 
erly to  deal  with  are  very  near  at  hand.  In 
many  places  an  impoverished  agriculture,  a 
general  increase  in  the  standard  of  living, 
without  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  means 
to  satisfy  it,  an  increasingly  uneven  distribu- 
tion of  prosperity,  the  increasing  predominance 
of  the  upper  age  classes  in  the  country,  the 
decay  of  wholesome  community  life  and  the 
rapid  increase  of  tenantry  on  the  farms.  These 
are  conditions  of  vital  importance  to  the  com- 
munity. The  average  country  church  does  not 
reach  either  the  tenant  or  the  man  living  near- 
est the  poverty  line  to  the  same  extent  that  it 
reaches  his  more  fortunate  brother.  Social 
improvements,  better  buildings,  better  salaries, 
support  of  missionaries,  are  not  possible  with- 
out a  constant  income.  The  church  has  an 
uncertain  future  in  a  population  of  relatively 
few  young  people,  with  a  social  life  approach- 
ing stagnation.  The  inability  of  the  church  to 
handle  these  problems  is  reacting  strongly 
both  upon  the  church  and  the  community. 

Facing  such  conditions,  the  organization  of 
the  country  church  in  general  shows  a  three- 
fold weakness.  In  the  first  place  there  is  the 
lack  of  an  adequate  resident  leadership.  It  is 
not  only  that  there  is  a  great  dearth  of  men 
properly  trained  and  equipped  for  ministry  in 
a  rural  parish,  but  even  more  there  is  a  dearth 
of  men  of  any  sort.  Country  churches  are 
suffering  from  an  extended  experiment  in  ab- 
sent treatment.  The  Circuit  Rider  built  most 
of  these  churches,  built  them  by  splendid  con- 


CHURCH   AND   COUNTRY   LIFE 


secration  and  untiring  service.  But  he  worked 
under  entirely  different  circumstances  and 
owed  his  success  to  conditions  which  no  longer 
exist  in  the  country.  He  lived  with  the  far- 
mers; the  modern  minister  is  a  town  man. 
The  churches  which  he  built  the  absentee  can 
no  longer  maintain.  In  Ohio,  an  average 
state,  only  six  open  country  churches  out  of 
every  hundred  have  resident  pastors  serving 
them  on  full  time.  Only  a  resident  minister 
can  have  that  minute  and  sympathetic  knowl- 
edge of  the  local  parish  which  is  the  first  re- 
quisite of  a  successful  ministry.  Without  it 
the  peculiar  needs  of  the  church  are  to  him  a 
closed  book.  What  has  been  termed  "mail 
order  preaching"  19  killing  most  country 
churches.  The  resident  pastor  holds  the  key 
to  the  situation  and  the  future  of  the  country 
church  rests  with  him. 

In  order  to  secure  this  resident  leadership 
the  religious  forces  of  the  country  community 
must  be  co-ordinated.  This  lack  of  co-ordina- 
tion is  the  second  great  weakness.  The  reli- 
gious forces  of  the  country  are  ineffectual 
because  scattered.  An  average  mid-western 
county  has  about  eighty  country  churches 
where  a  fourth  of  that  number  would  be  ade- 
quate; the  result  is  small,  languishing  church- 
es. The  greater  proportion  have  less  than  100 
members  each.  At  least  one-fourth  have  less 
than  twenty-five  members  each.  This  system 
is  wasteful  and  extravagant  because  of  the 
needless  duplication,  and  unsuccessful  because 
the  small  church  is  not  an  efficient  working 
unit.  The  great  over-multiplication  of  small 
churches  can  mean  nothing  but  wide-spread 
inefficiency.  As  a  result  the  small  church  is 
almost  invariably  a  dying  proposition. 

In  the  third  place  country  churches  suffer 
from  too  narrow  a  field  of  interests  and  work. 
"He  that  saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it"  is  as 
true  of  churches  as  individuals.  The  energies 
of  most  country  churches  are  expended  largely 
in  the  effort  to  perpetuate  their  own  organiza- 
tions.    Their  work  ends  where  it  begins. 

The  successful  country  church  as  a  rule  de- 
votes itself  to  everything  of  fundamental  im- 
portance to  its  people.  Churches  which  have 
suffered  least  from  economic  changes  are  those 
of  the  Amish  and  Mennonite  type,  churches 
which  bind  religion  close  into  the  vital  forces 
in  the  lives  of  their  people.  A  country  church 
if  it  is  to  survive  must  do  this.  It  must  permit 
nothing  good  in  the  community  to  be  without 
its  sanction  and  influence,  nothing  evil  to  be 


without  its  protest  and  resistance.  The  pro- 
motion of  musical  culture,  sanitation  and  re- 
creation and  the  condemnation  of  reckless, 
wasteful  farming  may  well  be  among  its  most 
important  projects. 

To  correct  these  three  weaknesses,  to  give 
the  church  a  united  front,  a  resident  leader- 
ship and  a  broad,  adequate  program  will  go 
far  toward  equipping  it  to  maintain  itself 
through  change  and  transition  and  to  maintain 
a  vital  religion  in  the  country. 

The  generalizations  made  in  this  paper  are 
all  based  upon  the  results  of  studies  in  coun- 
try communities  made  by  the  Presbyterian 
Department  of  Church  and  Country  Life.  The 
evidence  supporting  them  is  set  forth  in  full 
in  these  reports  and  may  be  examined  there. 

Lastly,  the  country  church  must  recognize 
that  it  will  not  be  possible  much  longer  for 
country  people  to  resist  the  strong  current 
now  running  toward  cooperation  and  organiza- 
tion. Everywhere  cooperation  is  in  the  air. 
Almost  every  issue  of  the  leading  farm  jour- 
nals discusses  it.  Numerous  conferences  and 
conventions  are  being  held  to  further  it.  The 
government  is  appropriating  funds  to  advance 
its  interests.  The  country  church  should  be  in 
on  the  ground  floor  of  this  reorganization,  but 
whether  or  not  it  takes  an  active  part,  this 
reorganization  will  go  on. 

The  Hicksite  Friends'  Meeting  at  Sandy 
Spring,  Maryland,  has  for  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  been  the  central  influence 
in  that  community's  life.  The  result  is  a  thor- 
oughly religious  community  and  a  thorough 
community  church,  which  cannot  possibly  suf- 
fer while  the  community  remains.  This  is 
what  will  happen  generally,  if  the  church  is 
the  fostering  agent  in  the  reorganization  of 
the  community.  What  will  happen  if  it  takes 
no  part,  whatever,  is  in  a  measure  problemati- 
cal, but  the  answer  is  not  very  hard  to  guess. 


"In  a  peculiar  way  the  church  is  intimately 
related  to  the  agricultural  industry.  The  work 
and  the  life  of  the  farm  are  closely  bound 
together,  and  the  institutions  of  the  country 
react  on  that  life  and  on  one  another  more 
intimately  than  they  do  in  the  city.  This 
gives  the  rural  church  a  position  of  peculiar 
difficulty  and  one  of  unequalled  opportunity. 
The  time  has  arrived  when  the  Church  must 
take  a  larger  leadership,  both  as  an  institu- 
tion and  through  its  pastors,  in  the  social  re- 
organization  of  rural    life." 


CHURCH   AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


Rural  Churches  of  Distinction 


MATTHEW  BROWN   M'NUTT 


DURING  my  travels  the  past  year  as 
Field  Assistant  in  the  Department  of 
Church  and  Country  Life  I  have  had 
the  privilege  of  meeting  and  visiting  a  good 
many  rural  pastors  and  churches  in  various 
parts -of  the  United  States.  This  has  afforded 
me  opportunity  to  study  the  methods  employed 
in  our  country  parishes.  I  have  found  some 
rural  churches  that  were  almost  a  total  failure 
even  with  a  pastor  working  sincerely  and 
heartily;  others  have  been  strikingly  successful 
although  often  not  known  outside  the  limits  of 
a  comparatively  small  area.  In  the  brief  space 
allotted  to  me  I  can  describe  only  a  few  of  the 
churches  that  have  appealed  to  me  as  doing 
especially  efficient  and  successful  work. 

Middle  Creek 

Middle  Creek  Church  is  in  the  open  country 
five  miles  from  Winnebago,  111.  It  was  organ- 
ized fifty-eight  years  ago  by  some  Presby- 
terians  from  Pennsylvania.     Rev.  J.  S.  Brad- 


country  schools  are  good,  this  being  Prof.  O. 
J.  Kern's  county.  The  Grange  and  co-operative 
creameries  are  features  of  the  industrial  life. 
Scientific  farming  has  a  sympathetic  hearing. 
The  young  people,  in  goodly  numbers,  are  at- 
tending high  school,  normal  school,  and  college. 
Middle  Creek  is  the  only  church  in  the  com- 
munity. Not  all  of  the  people  go  to  church  but 
this  is  largely  a  church-going  community,  of 
old  American  families  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Germans  and  Swedes.  The  summer  Sunday 
morning  congregations  number  250  people. 
The  evening  congregations  vary  from  75  to 
125,  mostly  young  people.  In  both  services 
men  and  boys  predominate.  The  church  build- 
ing was  remodeled  in  191 1  so  as  to  give  special 
rooms  for  Christian  Endeavor,  Sunday  school 
work  and  social  gatherings.  The  Sunday 
school  has  200  members,  missionary  society, 
fifty,  Westminster  Circle,  twenty-four  mem- 
bers. During  the  winter,  mission  study 
courses  are  followed  by  the  young  people.  The 


THE    REV.    B.    S.    JOINtEIS    AMD    FAMILY.      MR.    JONES    IS    'PASTOR    OF    THE    CHURCHES 
AT    KEEINE    AND    CLARK,     O. 


dock,  D.D.,  was  pastor  for  forty-two 
consecutive  years.  Rev.  H.  P.  Armstrong  is 
the  present  pastor  and  is  in  his  fifth  year  of 
service.  This  parish  is  five  by  twelve  miles  in 
extent.  It  is  thickly  settled  by  prosperous  far- 
mers who  are  for  the  most  part  keeping  step 
with  the  advance  of   rural  civilization..     The 


young  men  and  boys  support  a  brass  band  and 
the  C.  E.  a  Lyceum  Course.  The  present 
membership  of  the  church  is  152,  to  which 
frequent  accessions  are  being  made  and  from 
which  there  are  few  dismissals.  The  offer- 
ings last  year  were  most  encouraging,  amount- 
ing to  $600.00. 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


THE     EDGiEIBET     JUViEINLTjE     BAu\D 


Edgeley 

Edgeley  Church  is  situated  in  a  town  of  600 
people  in  the  state  of  North  Dakota  with 
a  good  farming  community  around  it.  Rev. 
J.  C.  Engel,  the  energetic  pastor,  by  mean  of 
an  Indian  motor  cycle,  visits  all  the  homes 
within  a  radius  of  seven  miles  and  many  others 
outside  of  this  radius.  He  has,  also,  been 
preaching  in  school  houses  in  connection  with 
Sunday  schools  almost  every  Sunday  after- 
noon since  Christmas.  His  church  has  been 
co-operating  with  the  School  Superintendent 
of  the  town  in  conducting  a  Lyceum  Course 
which  has  been  a  great  success.  The  next 
move  contemplated  is  to  assist  the  school  in 
placing  a  moving  picture  machine.  The  Metho- 
dist church  of  the  village  is  also  cooperating 
in  this.  Mr.  Engel  has  organized  a  boys'  brass 
band  which  promises  to  be  a  large  factor  in 
helping  to  solve  the  boy  problem.  All  the  reli- 
gious services  of  this  church  are  well  sus- 
tained. Mr.  Engel  and  his  people  represent  a 
type  of  minister  and  church  that  are  doing 
wonderful  service  in  helping  to  mould  aright 
the  life  of  this  new  country. 

The  Keene-Clark  Charge 

These  twin  churches  located  respectively  in 
the  inland  towns  of  Keene  and  Clark,  Coshoc- 


ton County,  Ohio,  nine  miles  apart,  have  been 
serving  their  communities,  the  one  ninety-five 
years,  the  other  eighty-three  years.  For  a 
greater  part  of  the  time  they  have  been  linked 
together  in  one  charge.  The  combined  parish 
covers  a  strip  of  territory  seven  by  eighteen 
miles,  or  126  square  miles.  This  is  a  hilly 
country  but  the  soil,  with  careful  cultivation, 
yields  good  crops.  It  requires  watching  to 
conserve  the  fertility  and  to  keep  the  hills 
from  washing.  The  people  are  home-loving 
folk,  Scotch-Irish  and  German  predominating. 
Almost  every  farmer  owns  his  land,  and  works 
it.  Many  of  the  farms  have  been  held  in  the 
same  name  for  generations.  A  wholesome  and 
satisfying  social  life  is  afforded  by  the  various 
activities  of  the  church,  public  school  and 
Grange.  This  has  done  much  to  induce  the 
people  to  remain  on  the  farms.  The  village  of 
Keene  has  plans  ready  for  the  immediate  erec- 
tion of  a  modern  $14,000  school  building.  The 
Duplex  Envelope  System  was  introduced  in 
this  parish  a  year  ago,  which  has  resulted  in 
much  increased  offerings  especially  for  benevo- 
lences. Successful  revival  services  were  held 
during  the  winter.  The  church  at  Keene  last 
fall  formed  with  the  Methodist  people  a  Vil- 


CHURCH   AND   COUNTRY   LIFE 


lage  Prayer  Meeting  Association  which  has 
successfully  been  carried  on  ever  since.  Its 
purpose  is  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of  cooperation 
among  the  Christian  people  of  the  community 
and  to  secure  more  efficient  service.  Rural 
Life  Institutes  were  held  in  both  churches  last 
summer  under  the  direction  of  the  Department 
of  Church  and  Country  Life.  Another  insti- 
tute will  be  held  this  summer.  Rev.  B.  S. 
Jones  is  the  leader  of  this  flourishing  work. 
He  lives  at  Keene  and  uses  an  automobile  in 
his  parish  work. 

Marietta  and   Colon 

This  twin  parish  is  in  Saunders  County, 
Neb.,  and  has  a  record  of  four  decades. 
Marietta  Church  is  in  the  open  country  three 
miles  from  the  village  of  Colon,  the  pastor 
living  at  the  country  point.  The  rural  congre- 
gation has  just  enlarged  and  remodeled  its 
building  so  as  to  afford  good  Sunday  school 


plied  chiefly  by  an  active  C.  E.  Society.  Inter- 
est in  and  gifts  to'  missions  have  steadily  in- 
creased. Efficient  growing  leaders  are  in 
every  organization.  Special  efforts  are  being 
made  to  help  the  young  people  and  children. 
The  membership  has  steadily  increased  and  is 
larger  now  than  it  has  been  for  several  years. 
Rev.  N.  P.  Olney  is  in  his  fourth  year  with 
this  church.  He  attended  the  Summer  School 
at  Columbia,  Mo.,  in  1912,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Department  of  Church  and  Country 
Life  and  says  he  "came  home  with  a  new 
vision  for  work  in  the  rural  churches."  The 
Rural  Department  in  the  County  Sunday 
School  Association  was  created  in  order  to 
give  him  a  chance  to  work  out  the  country  life 
movement  in  and  through  the  Sunday  schools 
of  the  county. 

Panama 

The  church  in   Panama,  Neb.,  a  village  of 


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NO    DTMiL    TIMES     HiE.RCE 


and  social  facilities.  A  large  majority  of  the 
families  of  the  congregation  own  and  work 
their  farms.  The  renters  are  mostly  sons  of 
the  owners  and  men  of  the  church.  The  com- 
munity is  prosperous  and  progressive.  Men 
and  boys  are  always  present  in  the  services  in 
large  proportion.  The  boys'  class,  all  church 
members,  have  a  base  ball  team  and  sentiment 
favors  a  Saturday  half-holiday  for  sports  and 
recreations.     A  wholesome  social  life  is   sup- 


300  people,  ministers  not  only  to  the  village  but 
to  the  surrounding  country.  Its  young  men 
conduct  a  successful  Lyceum  Course.  The 
work  of  the  church  is  hampered  by  having  no 
suitable  meeting  place  for  social  gatherings. 
This  difficulty  is  soon  to  be  overcome,  how- 
ever, by  a  $5,000  parish  house  which  is  being 
planned.  The  Sunday  school  has  increased 
nearly  fifty  since  the  first  of  the  year.  Forty 
persons  were  added  to  the  membership  of  the 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY   LIFE 


13 


church  last  year,  thirty-four  of  these  on  pro- 
fession of  faith.  Both  the  morning  and  even- 
ing preaching  services  are  well  attended,  the 
audience  ranging  from  125  in  the  morning,  to 
175  in  the  evening,  which  number  fills  the 
church.  The  Department  of  Church  and 
Country  Life  assisted  in  a  Rural  Life  Insti- 
tute in  this  community  last  December.  The 
pastor,  Rev.  Cecil  Phillips,  writes  concern- 
ing it,  "I  am  very  sure  that  the  institute  was 
a  fine  .thing  for  this  community,  for  from 
that  time  the  people  began  to  see  a  vision  of 
what  might  be  done." 

In  all  these  parishes  certain  things  are  no- 
ticeable : 

These  churches  have  resident  ministers. 


Special  attention  is  given  to  the  training  of 
the  children  and  youth. 

Provision  is  made  for  wholesome  recreation, 
entertainment  and  social  intercourse. 

Social  service  is  emphasized. 

Better  farming  is  encouraged  with  the  result 
that  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  preserved  and 
the  farmers  are  prospering. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  raising  the  ministers' 
salaries. 

The  owners  are  being  held  on  their  farms. 

These  churches  are  serving  their  respective 
communities  according  to  the  needs  of  our 
time  and  are  constantly  growing  in  numerical, 
financial  and  spiritual  strength  as  well  as  in 
efficiency. 


Our  Church  in  the  Southern  Mountains 


0.    F.    WISNER 


THERE  is  a  mountain  population  in  eight 
states  of  the  South  variously  esti- 
mated at  from  1,500,000  to  4,000,000. 
A  century  and  a  half  of  living  apart  has  made 
them  backward  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of 
their  isolation.  In  occasional  fertile  valleys 
prosperity  has  maintained  culture,  comfort, 
and  religion  at  a  normal  level.  The  mass  of 
the  population,  however,  lived  in  seclusion, 
poverty,  and  ignorance. 

Within  a  generation  this  seclusion  has  been 
invaded  by  the  railroad,  the  postman,  the  tele- 
graph, and  the  telephone.  Lumber  companies 
have  brought  new  ideas  and  new  wants,  and, 
in  exchange  for. land,  lumber,  and  labor,  have 
poured  a  sudden  stream  of  ready  money  into 
part  of  these  richly  timbered  mountains.  The 
mountaineer  can  no  longer,  as  formerly,  dis- 
pense with  an  income.  He  no  longer  produces 
everything  he  needs  in  the  way  of  food,  cloth- 
ing, shelter,  furniture,  and  implements.  The 
loom  has  passed.  The  log  cabin  is  being  dis- 
placed by  the  frame  cottage.  The  steel  range, 
sewing-machine,  and  organ  are  coming  into 
use.  Once  these  people  were  producers  of  all 
they  used,  now  they  are  consumers  of  other 
men's  goods.  A  cash  income  is  now  a  neces- 
sity, but  is  not  yielded  by  unintelligent  farm- 
ing, on  poor  or  exhausted  land,  and  this  makes 
poverty  pinch  today  where  it  was  not  felt 
before.  The  problem  is  fundamentally  indus- 
trial and  economic,  and  the  church  which  does 


not  show  a  very  close  connection  between  reli- 
gion and  farming  can  not  permanently  hold 
this  field. 

This,  then,  is  the  present  religious  situation. 
A  new  era  has  arrived, — an  economic  and  so- 
cial crisis,  in  which  the  life  and  thought  of 
the  people  is  immeasurably  enlarged,  and  in. 
which  religion  must  have  new  interpretation, 
to  show  its  fitness  to  the  needs  of  modern  life. 
Man  here  has  ceased  to  be  merely  an  individ- 
ual, and  has  become  a  member  of  society.  His- 
gospel  must  speak  to  him  in  terms  of  his 
whole  nature.  If  it  fails  to  do  this,  it  will 
not  reach  him  where  he  is.  Preachers  usually 
live  long  distances  from  their  preaching  ap- 
pointments. Their  pay,  as  a  matter  of  princi- 
ple, is  small  or  nothing,  and  helpful  books  and 
magazines  are  an  impossibility.  They  can  do 
little  or  no  pastoral  work.  Their  ministra- 
tions consist  solely  of  preaching  Saturday 
afternoon  and  Sunday  morning  once  a  month 
at  each  of  four  or  five  widely  separated  ap- 
pointments. Such  preachers  cannot  be  expected 
to  organize  the  life  activities  of  a  commun- 
ity about  the  church  as  a  center. 

As  would  be  expected  under  such  conditions 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  not  identified 
with  the  church.  After  a  personal  and  careful 
study  of  fifteen  communities  in  western  North 
Carolina  and  eastern  Tennessee  the  writer 
found  less  than  half  the  population  on  the 
church    rolls    of    the    twelve    denominations 


14 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


A  PRESBYTERIAN   CENTRE 

represented.  In  one  township  forty-eight  per 
cent  of  the  population  were  church  members. 
From  this  high  water  mark  the  percentage 
fell  away  until  low  tide  was  reached  at  nine 
per  cent !  The  average  for  the  whole  region 
was  twenty-nine  per  cent.  There  is  still  room 
for  evangelistic  effort.  The  old  religious 
forces  are  demonstrably  unequal  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  new  times. 

Are  Presbyterians  any  better  able  to  cope 
with  the  situation? 
In  every  Presby- 
terian congrega- 
tion much  effort  is 
expended  in  culti- 
vating the  social 
and  recreational 
life  of  the  people 
through  picnics, 
socials,  and  neigh- 
borhood gather- 
ings, with  a  view 
to  knitting  the 
community  togeth- 
er and  binding  it 
to  the  church. 
Very  little  of  this 
is  done  by  other 
denominations.  A 
survey  of  115 
churches  showed 
a  total  of.  eighty- 
five    organizations 


within  them,  other 
than  Sunday 
schools,  for  doing 
Christian  work. 
Of  these  fifty-five 
were  in  twenty- 
two  Presbyterian 
churches,  and  the 
remaining  thirty 
were  distributed 
among  ninety- 
three  churches  of 
cither  denomina- 
tions. 

We    have    used 
education     as     an 
important   arm   of 
the    church's    ser- 
vice   to    the    com- 
munity.    We  have 
a     number     of 
educated        minis- 
ters     devoting 
their      whole     time     to      intelligent     organi- 
zation and  direction  of  the  church's  activities. 
I    was    told    by    a    mountaineer    in    surprised 
confidence  that  one  of  these  ministers  "must 
have  a  whole  sled  load  of  books."     The  very 
fact  that  most  of  them  are  "furiners"    (i.  e., 
do    not    belong    to    the    mountains)    probably 
enables  them  to  see  the  needs  of  the  field  bet- 
ter than  the  natives  can.     Our  church  makes 
large  use   of   schools.     In    fact   most   of   our 


A    MOTJ/NTAINEEIR'S    HOME 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


churches  have  grown  out  of  our  schools.  The 
Presbyterian  schools  have  set  the  standard  of 
education  for  this  whole  section  of  country. 
More  than  one  community  admittedly  owes  to 
the  presence  of  the  Presbyterians  its  good 
school,  its  improved  community  and  family 
life,  and  its  better  organized  church  activities. 
I  stood  in  the  central  square  of  a  county 
seat  on  court  Monday  and  observed  the  crowds 
of  people  from  the  surrounding  country  as 
they  soberly  and  quietly  transacted  the  busi- 
ness which  calls  them  together  on  those  days. 


and  a  residence.  Today  she  has  the  best 
country  school  in  the  county,  is  the  loved  and 
respected  leader  in  the  community,  has  her 
dresses,  her  window-curtains,  and  her  cakes 
copied  by  all  the  women  for  miles  around,  is 
the  accountant  and  adviser  of  the  men  of  the 
district,  has  been  elected  by  them  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  largest  Farmers'  Union  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  and  has  gathered  about 
her  half  a  hundred  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian church,  making  this  branch  church 
stronger  than  the  main  church. 


FORDING 


A  by-standing  citizen  said  to  me,  "Ten  years 
ago  you  would  have  wanted  to  seek  cover  on 
such  a  day  as  this.  This  square  was  scarcely 
a  safe  place  to  be.  Drinking,  fighting,  and 
shooting  were  the  rule.  The  Presbyterians 
founded  a  school  here,  and  now  you  can  see 
how  orderly  and  peaceable  the  place  is." 

A  country  community  fourteen  miles  from 
the  nearest  village  was  without  a  school,  and 
was  rent  by  a  feud  that  led  men  to  fill  their 
pockets  with  weapons  even  when  they  attended 
church.  That  was  ten  years  ago.  The  Pres- 
byterians sent  a  "wisp"  of  a  young  woman 
there  to  teach  a  day  school  and  conduct  a 
Sunday  school.  She  went,  and  how  she  did  it 
who  shall  say,  but  in  six  months  the  feud  was 
dead,  the  people  had  subscribed  labor  and  ma- 
terials and  built  her  a  two-room  school  house 


Presbyterians  have  done  nothing  in  these 
mountains  of  which  to  boast.  They  have  just 
touched  the  rim  of  the  things  that  ought  to  be 
done.  A  body  of  Christian  workers  is  de- 
manded, who  will  preserve  the  large  vision  and 
the  sweet  spirit  of  Christ,  and  courageously 
labor  on,  bearing,  believing,  hoping,  and  endur- 
ing all  things  for  the  love  of  the  Master. 

The  pioneer  in  the  mountains  has  been  the 
Woman's  Board.  Their  work  is  still  the  most 
stimulating  and  the  strongest  influence  for 
good.  The  whole  Church  owes  a  debt  to  the 
pioneer  women  missionaries,  who  invaded  the 
mountains  with  spelling  book  in  hand,  to  send 
the  pastor  who  shall  teach  to  a  people,  no 
longer  illiterate,  the  gospel  of  the  community, 
the  nation  and  of  the  missionary  kingdom  of 
Jesus,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 


*6 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


Practical  Evangelism  for  the 
Country  Church 


CLAIR   S.   ADAMS 


WE  will  speak  of  such  forms  of  practi- 
cal evangelism  as  have  been  intro- 
duced under  the  inspiration  of  our 
department  during  the  past  eight  months  in 
the  Salt  River  Presbytery,  Missouri ;  our 
especial  charge  during  this  time. 

The  six  counties  making  up  this  presbytery 
have  lost  over  five  per  cent  in  population  in 
the  last  ten  years,  and  our  church  over  twenty 
per  cent  in  membership.  The  chief  reason  for 
this  is  that  there  are  so  few  pastors  in  these 
churches,  only  ten  in  all.  Out  of  the  forty- 
two  churches  in  the  presbytery,  only  two  have 
preaching  every  Sabbath,  one  has  three  Sab- 
baths out  of  the  month,  seven  have  preaching 
twice  a  month,  and  the  rest  once  a  month,  or 
none.  All  these  are  country  churches  save 
one,  twenty-four  of  the  churches  are  out  in 
the  open  country  and  the  remainder  in  small 
villages  and  towns  usually  overchurched.  The 
ministers  live  in  the  towns  and  cities,  in  some 
cases  many  miles  away  from  their  churches, 
which  are  like  "sheep  without  a  shepherd." 
Quoting  from  the  survey  of  Rev.  Anton  T. 
Boisen  taken  a  year  ago  of  this  presbytery, 
"the  nine  ministers  who  serve  the  country 
churches  use  up  each  month  twenty-one  days 
in  getting  back  and  forth  to  their  appoint- 
ments" not  only  time  wasted  but  money,  since 
"five  of  the  ministers  pay  out  $175  a  year  for 
traveling  expenses  to  their  churches,"  a  sure 
case  of  "running  .to  and  fro  in  the  earth." 
But  worse  than  all  else,  no  pastors;  and  an 
absentee  ministry  is  as  unprofitable  to  the  soul 
as  absentee  ownership  is  to  the  soil.  There  is 
probably  no  presbytery  in  our  Church  where 
there  is  such  a  church  decline,  and  yet  here  is 
a  fine,  generous  people,  ready  and  willing  for 
leadership.  We  give  these  details  that  you 
may  know  the  condition  with  which  we  have 
to  deal. 

We  began  this  part  of  our  department  work 
in  the  presbytery  by  holding  evangelistic  ser- 
vices with  seven  of  the  churches,  or  as  long  as 
good  roads  continued  and  farmers  were  not 
too  busy.  Six  of  these  churches  were  in  the 
open  country.  One  hundred  and  fifty-two  ser- 
vices were  held  with  seventy-one  decisions  for 
Christ,   fifty-eight  of  these  uniting  with   our 


churches,  thirty  of  them  being  heads  of  fami- 
lies and  nineteen  new  families  being  brought 
into  our  church  membership.  Most  delightful 
social  and  community  fellowship  was  strength- 
ened and  the  churches  encouraged. 

We  have  emphasized  this  part  of  our  plan, 
for  the  whole  purpose  of  our  department  is  to 
bring  our  country  people  to  realize  that  bring- 
ing men  into  the  Christian  life  is  the  first  and 
greatest  business  of  the  church.  After  this 
has  been  done  other  work  for  the  upbuilding 
of  the  community  must  be  added,  for  religion 
consists  not  alone  in  the  worship  of  God  in  a 
one-room  building  once  a  month. 

The  finances  of  a  church  are  generally  sensi- 
tive subjects,  but  we  are  readjusting  these  and 
placing  the  churches  on  the  budget  plan,  and 
introducing  the  duplex  envelopes  as  fast  as 
we  can.  The  once-a-month  churches  have  paid 
the  highest  salaries  for  preaching;  too  high,  in 
fact,  for  what  they  have  received.  Three 
hundred  dollars  a  year  is  often  paid  for  this 
fractional  service  (revival  of  two  weeks 
thrown  in)  with  no  pastoral  work,  and  no 
institution  or  direction  of  church  organiza- 
tions. Several  woman's  missionary  societies 
have  been  organized  and  the  young  people  are 
also  finding  an  outlet  for  their  activities  in 
newly  organized  societies  of  various  kinds. 
One  of  the  best  things  we  are  doing  in  our 
ministry  is  holding  Farmers'  Institutes,  meet- 
ing in  the  churches.  Seven  of  these  meetings 
have  been  conducted  within  the  past  few 
months.  The  first  meeting  of  this  kind  held 
in  the  state,  under  the  direction  of  the  church, 
was  in  this  presbytery  in  connection  with  this 
movement.  There  are  usually  several  speak- 
ers, Board  of  Agriculture  men,  teachers  and 
ministers ;  so  that  we  can  present  the  four 
leading  departments  of  rural  uplift,  viz.,  the 
farm,  the  home,  the  rural  school,  and  the 
church.  Thus  we  bind  the  factors  of  the  rural 
life  problem  together  in  sympathy  and  cooper- 
ation, with  the  Church  instituting  and  direct- 
ing it  all,  her  rightful  position,  since  she  is  to 
spiritualize  the  material,  and  touch  all  the 
"whatsoever  ye  do"  of  life.  Usually  our  insti- 
tutes have  been  held  for  a  day  in  each  church, 
beginning  with  a  morning  session  of  about  two 


CHURCH   AND   COUNTRY   LIFE 


17 


hours,  then  a  basket  dinner  for  everybody  in 
the  church  or  on  the  grounds ;  a  fine  social 
leaven  for  any  community.  In  the  afternoon 
about  three  hours  is  given  to  speaking  and 
conference;  schools  in  the  neighborhood  being 
dismissed  and  meeting  with  us;  then  the  ad- 
dresses in  the  evening.  Just  to  show  how 
much  interest  such  meetings  arouse,  this  past 
April  we  held  four  such  institutes  in  the  busi- 
est time  of  spring  work,  the  week  of  oat- 
sowing,  yet  we  had  an  average  at- 
tendance at  each  church  of  eighty- 
five.  All  these  meetings  are  open- 
ed with  devotional  services,  and 
religion  is  presented  in  a  large  way, 
irrespective  of  denominational 
lines,  so  that  farmers  see  that  sal- 
vation not  only  concerns  the  souls 
of  men,  but  also  the  soil  from 
whose  bountiful  gifts  mankind 
lives.  This  larger  conception  lifts 
the  minds  of  men  Godward,  and 
"the  man  with  the  hoe"  becomes  a 
co-worker  with  our  Father  in 
heaven.  Already  we  can  see  a 
more  responsive  spirit  towards  the 
church,  on  the  part  of  non-church- 
members,  as  they  catch  this  larger 
conception  of  the  ministry  of  the 
Church,  than  just  the  praise  and 
worship  of  a  Sabbath  day. 

A  Boy  Scouts  organization  in 
one  of  our  groups,  directed  by  one 
of  our  department  pastors  has  ral- 
lied the  boys  of  the  community, 
and  already  a  camp  has  been  held 
with  great  success,  and  larger 
plans  for  the  coming  year  are  be- 
ing enthusiastically  entered  into.  In 
another  rural  church,  a  traveling 
library  has  been  secured  from  our 
State  Library  Commission,  and  the 
people  thus  have  the  advantage 
of     the     reading     of     good     modern     books 

Preliminary  steps  have  been  taken  towards 
the  organization  of  various  societies  in  several 
other  communities,  as  activities  of  the  church's 
life. 

We  must  not  forget  to  mention  the  school 
house  preaching  that  one  of  our  pastors  is 
doing  on  Sabbath  afternoons,  out  from  his 
town  church  with  the  greatest  acceptance  by 
the  country  people.  This  pastor  already  has 
three  of  these  outstations,  in  districts  that  are 
far  removed   from  other  churches,  and  it   is 


his  purpose  to  tie  these  places  to  the  town 
church,  and  make  this  work  permanent.  This 
kind  of  service  has  the  "Go  ye  into  all  the 
world"  ring  to  it,  that  cannot  but  build  up 
God's  kingdom. 

These  activities  of  our  churches  out  in 
Missouri  may  seem  unimportant  to  some,  but 
when  we  remember  they  are  being  introduced 
into  communities  where  the  Church  stood 
only    for   once-a-month    preaching,    and    with 


BiDBSSBD    BY    RRJEIS'BY'TiEiRIAIN    INiFiLUIENCS 

scarcely  any  life  except  the  annual  two  weeks' 
revival,  where  denominationalism  is  still  ram- 
pant, and  preachers  do  not  live  with  their 
people,  where  economic  conditions  are  largely 
back  in  the  pioneer  period,  where  the 
population  is  decreasing  and  the  churches 
discouraged  and  dying;  then  we  can  see 
what  larger  meaning  these  forms  of  service 
have  to  the  communities  in  which  we  are  in- 
troducing them,  and  what  a  higher  and  more 
helpful  vision  of  the  place  God  means  His 
Church  to  have  in  her  ministry  to  the  world. 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


Results  of  Special  Training 


ANNA  B.  TAFT 


THERE  are  two  impressive  facts  that 
stand  out  clearly  to  those  who  come 
closely  in  touch  with  the  work  of 
country  ministers.  The  first  is  the  splendid 
consecration,  sacrifice  and  tireless  labor  in- 
vested in  this  form  of  Christian  service.  The 
second  is,  that  failure  to  build  an  efficient 
church  in  the  country  lies  in  large  measure,  so 
far  as  the  pastor  is  concerned,  in  a  lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  problem  and  the  want  of 
clear  vision  as 
to  the  possibili- 
ties of  the 
country  church. 
To  help  live 
country  minis- 
ters to  be  mas- 
ters of  their 
problem  the 
Department  of 
C  h  u  re  h  and 
Country  Life 
has  held  each 
summer  Post 
Graduate 
Courses  for 
Country  Minis- 
ters in  cooper- 
ation w  'i  t  h 
Summer 
Schools  of  dis- 
tinction. No  part  of  the  Department's  work  is 
so  inspiring  as  this  for  those  who  serve  under 
it,  for  no  other  brings  such  quick  and  graphic 
returns.  Nearly  400  country  ministers,  selected 
on  the  basis  of  their  possibilities  for  leader- 
ship, have  been  brought  to  these  Summer 
Schools  during  the  past  three  years. 

A  letter  was  recently  sent  to  about  fifty  of 
these  ministers  who  had  had  at  least  a  year's 
work  since  attending  the  summer  school,  ask- 
ing what  results  in  their  work  were  directly 
traceable  to  the  summer  school.  The  response 
was  so  generous  and  hearty  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble in  the  limits  of  this  brief  article  to  give 
more  than  a  few  short  extracts  from  the  let- 
ters received.  A  minister  from  Pennsylvania 
writes : 

"My  attendance  upon  the  summer  schools 
of  the  Department  of  Church  and  Country 
Life  has  been  of  great  advantage  to  me  as  an 


COUNTRY     PASTOR'S     AT     A     SUMMER     SCHOOL, 


inspiration  and  as  a  means  of  acquiring  knowl- 
edge and  receiving  suggestions.  Being  in  a 
very  much  overchurched  community,  with 
Presbyterianism  not  strong  enough  to  domi- 
nate, I  have  not  been  able  to  follow  my  ideal; 
but  I  have  sought  to  preach  the  old  Gospel  in 
terms  of  country  life;  and  my  people  have  in 
various  ways  testified  that  my  preaching  has 
very  much  improved.  In  fact  this  testimony 
has  been  so  strong  that,  if  I  had  no  personal 

desire  to  attend 
the  coming  ses- 
sion of  this 
school  at  Au- 
burn, I  should 
have  hesitated 
to  remain  away 
lest  I  should 
not  be  able  to 
satisfy  them  in 
the  future.  In 
addition  to  my 
preaching  here, 
I  have  by  ser- 
mons in  other 
pulpits  and  at 
Grange  Har- 
vest Home  Ser- 
vices, by  ad- 
dresses at  Sun- 
day scHool 
Conventions,  and  by  articles  in  our  local 
newspaper  sought  to  awaken  a  new  interest  in 
the  country  church  by  calling  attention  to  the 
sacredness  of  agriculture  and  the  dependence 
of  the  Church  on  its  prosperity  and  to  the 
larger  opportunity  for  evangelism  through 
the  church's  taking  an  interest  in  the  whole 
life  of  the  people.  Of  course  this  has  been 
largely  sowing-  seed  where  I  could  not  expect 
to  reap  the  harvest ;  but  I  have  had  some  evi- 
dence that  it  did  not  all  fall  on  stony  ground. 
Whatever  I  have  done  I  have  been  led  to 
chiefly  by  my  attendance  at  Auburn." 
Another  minister  from  the  same  state  says : 
"As  one  of  the  country  ministers  who  at- 
tended the  summer  school  at  Auburn  Semi- 
nary, July,  1912,  I  am  glad  to  say  that  this 
school  had  and  is  having  a  direct,  positive 
influence  in  furthering  the  work  in  my  field. 
The   splendid   instruction,   the   interchange   of 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


19 


experiences  and  the  splendid  fellowship,  all 
combine  in  communicating  that  impression 
which  is  so  necessary  to  the  country  pastor 
that  he  is  not  working  alone  but  is  working 
with  others  who  are  trying  to  meet  the  same 
problems. 

"It  is  my  opinion  that  nothing  in  recent 
times  has  been  so  .helpful  to  the  country  minis- 
ter as  these  summer  schools  and  Country  Life 
Conferences."    - 

Another  contribution  from  Pennsylvania 
comes  from  a  man  who  is  not  at  present  a 
country  pastor,  but  holding  a  home  mission 
position  in  his  presbytery.     He  writes  : 

"The  opportunity  I  have  had  for  testing  the 
value  of  the  summer  conferences  has  been  an 
unusual  one.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  be 
present  at  the  first  of  these  which  was  held  in 
connection  with  the  Home  Mission  Board,  and 
have  found  it  to  be  specially  helpful  in  the 
following  ways : 

"In  giving  a  clear  vision  of  what  the  move- 
ment really  means. 

"Those  who  have  never  attended  any  of 
these  conferences  can  form  no  idea  of  their 
inspirational  value  in  this  direction.  I  had 
been  a  student  of  the  problems  of  the  country 
church  before,  but  the  lectures  and  discussions 
at  the  conference  gave  me  a  much  better  con- 
ception of  what  these  problems  are,  and  how 
they  should  be  handled. 

"In  formulating  in  a  definite  and  concise 
program  those  lines  of  activity  which  need  to 
be  emphasized  in  the  life  and  work  of  the 
country  church. 

"Such  a  program  has  been  of  inestimable 
worth  to  me,  and  has  been  adopted  by  the 
presbytery.  It  has  been  successfully  appealed 
to  again  and  again  in  defense  of  the  methods 
which  the  presbytery  has  used,  and  has  been 
a  most  effective  instrument  in  securing  aggres- 
sive and  concerted  action." 

So  many  ministers  from  New  York  state 
who  have  had  the  exceptional  advantage  of 
attending  the  Auburn  Summer  School  of 
Theology  wrote  in  response  to  our  inquiry 
that  it  is  possible  to  quote  from  only  a  few. 

"Personally,  the  summer  school  brought  me 
a  greatly  enlarged  vision  of  the  possibilities 
open  to  me  and  my  people,  and  so,  of  course, 
a  new  and  increased  sense  of  responsibility. 
It  showed  me  that  some  things  must  be  at- 
tempted, which  before  had  not  appeared  as 
part  of  my  pastoral  work,  and  it  showed  to 
some  extent,  how  to  tackle  those  jobs." 


Another  minister  says : 

"I  believe  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  has 
done  wisely,  to  seek  to  help  the  church 
through  this  training  of  workers  and  sugges- 
tions of  the  best  methods." 

Again  we  have  this  word : 

"As  neither  my  university  nor  seminary 
gave  courses  in  "Country  Life,"  I  had  no 
opportunity  of  studying  the  subject.  But  when 
I  entered  the  summer  school  I  began  to  see 
things  in  a  new  light.  The  least  I  can  say 
is  that  Dr.  Wilson  gave  me  a  vision  of  what 
a  minister  may  be  and  do  in  a  country  com- 
munity. To  a  very  large  degree  it  is  his 
program  I  am  following  in  my  work." 

From  New  Jersey  a  country  pastor,  writes  : 

"Let  me  say  a  word  concerning  the  value  of 
the  summer  school.  I  attended  a  summer 
school  three  years  ago  and  found  it  to  be  of 
great  inspirational  value  'to  me.  I  was  at 
that  time  at  work  upon  the  problems  of  the 
country  church  and  of  the  country  community, 
and  the  contact  with  others  who  were  engaged 
in  the  same  work  encouraged  me  greatly  to 
develop  and  enlarge  the  scope  of  the  work 
already  begun." 

A  country  minister  from  Ohio,  doing  excep- 
tionally fine  work,  writes : 

"I  could  write  eloquently  of  the  new  inspira- 
tion that  came  to  me  as  a  result  of  my  atten- 
dance at  the  summer  school  at  Grove  City, — 
one  of  the  new  sense  that  we  country  preach-' 
ers  were  being  recognized  in  our  work,  of  a 
new  discovery  that  our  work  was  important  in 
larger  ways  than  we  had  realized,  of  a  new 
affection  for  the  Church  that  was  possessed 
of  the  love  and  statesmanship  to  get  us  to- 
gether and  encourage  us  in  a  new  and  broader 
understanding  of  our  country  problem,  a  new 
prayer  for  all  the  country  fields,  a  new  in- 
telligence in  regard  to  books  on  country  life 
and  successful  forms  of  country  work  in 
various  places." 

Another  from  the  same  state  says : 

"I  have  never  had  such  conceptions  of 
church  work  before.  I  had  never  followed 
and  studied  as  I  have  the  past  three  years. 
It  is  far  greater  delight  to  attempt  to  do  the 
work  of  a  community  seeing  that  according  to 
this  new  way  I  can  make  my  church  and 
thus  my  own  labors  contribute  to  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  community  as  I  had  never  con- 
ceived of  doing  before." 

All  of  our  summer  schools  have  not  been  in 
the  East.     In  1912  and  again  in  1913  we  have 


CHURCH  AND   COUNTRY  LIFE 


had  a  summer  school  at  Estes  Park,  Colorado, 
in  connection  with  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Conference. 
One  of  the  students  at  this  summer  school 
says  briefly  and  right  to  the  point :  "I  re- 
ceived inspiration  and  information  and  then 
used  it.  I  spent  much  of  my  time  in  personal 
work  and  the  response  was  very  gratifying." 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS 

Recommended  by  the  Department  of  Church 
and  Country  Life 

Anderson,    Wilbert    L.    The    Country    Town.    Baker 

Taylor   Co. 
Ashenhurst,  J.  O.   The  Day  of  the  'Country  Church. 

Funk   &  Wagnalls  Co. 
Bailey,    L,.    H.    The    Country    Life    Movement.      The 

Maemillan   Co. 
Bailey,   L.    H.    Nature    Study    Idea.    The    Maemillan 

Co. 
Bailey,   L,.   H,    Outlook    to    Nature.      The    Maemillan 

Co. 
Bailey,  I*  H.  The  State  and  the  Farmer.  The  Mae- 
millan  Co. 
Beard,  A.  ~F.  The  Story   of  John  Frederick   Oberlin. 

The   Pilgrim   Press. 
Butterfield,  Kenyon  L,.   Chapters  in  Rural  Progress. 

University    of    Chicago    Press.* 
Butterfield,    Kenyon    L.     The    Country    Church    and 

the     Rural     Problem.     University     of     Chicago 

Press. 


Carver,  T.  N.  Principles  of  Rural  Economics.  Ginn 
&   Co. 

Coulter,  J.  E.  Co-operation  Among  Farmers.  Stur- 
gis  &  Walton. 

Foght,  H.  W.  The  American  Rural  School.  The 
Macimillan   Co. 

Haggard,  H.  Rider.  Rural  Denmark  and  Its  Les- 
sons. Longmans   &   Co. 

Kern,    O.   J.    Among    Country    Schools.    Ginn    &    Co. 

McKeever,  W.  A.  Farm  Boys  and  Girls.  The  Ma,c- 
millan    Co. 

Plunkett,  Sir  Horace.  The  Rural  Life  Problem,  of 
the  United  States.     The  Maemillan   Co. 

Taft,  Anna  B.  Community  Study  for  Country  Dis- 
tricts.     Missionary   Education   Movement. 

Van  Hise,  C.  R.  The  Conservation  of  the  Natural 
Resources  in  the  United  States.  The  Mae- 
millan  Co. 

Wilson,  Warren  H.  The  Church  of  the  Open  Coun- 
try.   Missionary    Education    Movement. 

Wilson,  Warren  H.   Quaker  Hill.   Privately  Printed. 

Wilson,  Warren  H.  The  Evolution  of  the  Country 
Community.      The   Pilgrim  Press. 

Country  Life.  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Political    and    Social    Science. 

Report  of  the  Country  Life  Commission.  Sturgis 
&  Walton. 

Carney,  Mabel.  Country  Life  and  the  Country 
School.    Row,    Peterson    and    Company. 

Fiske,  George  Walter.  The  Challenge  of  the  Coun- 
try.   Association    Press. 

Gill,  Charles  O.  and  Pinchot,  Gifford.  The  Country 
Church.   The  Maemillan  Company. 

Gillette,  John  M.  Constructive  Rural  Sociology. 
Sturgis   and   Walton   Company. 

MacDougall,  John,  Rural  Life  in  Canada.  The 
Westminster    Company,    Toronto. 


Copyright  by  Albert   Smith. 
Used  by  permission. 


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